Cantwell/Rashica/Tzolis

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,139]

I'm going to go slightly against conventional wisdom here by stating that I don't think the overall quality of our first 11 and squad is all that bad by this leagues standards, I don't think we do ourselves any favors by trying to play possession based football and it's taken the new players a long time to settle in but I think overall the squad is good enough. 

The issue for me is that we don't have that one star quality player that every other lower team has. The one who can create chances from nothing, who the opposition has to adjust their game to accommodate for, who can inspire confidence in their teams mates by making things happen etc. I'm thinking what the likes of Saint-Maximin/McNeil/Zaha/Sarr/Raphinia etc does for other teams.We're too predictable now and teams can just impose their game on us because they have nothing to worry about coming back to them, if we want to score some goals and open up space for our other attacking players and allow our midfielders space to play in then we have to find this player in the squad we already have.  Looking at the squad I think we have 3 players who if they are well coached, confident, has a team around them that compliments their strengths and they develop quickly could potentially be that player for us. 

One of the miracles I'm hoping Smith can work for us is getting a tune out of one of these 3 and developing them into that key player, it's unlikely and he doesn't have the raw ingredients he had with Grealish in any of those 3 but I'm still hoping he can get one of these players firing because I think it's the only way we'll have a chance to stay up, however good he is at setting up a side and motivating players we will always be too easy to play against without at least one outstanding attacking player. 

[Petriix 2,851]

Part of the issue we've faced so far this season is simply not having enough of this type of player on the pitch at any point. One or two are far easier to mark out of the game. As soon as you have a dynamic attacking trio in behind Pukki, they become so much more dangerous collectively.

I can't wait to see this team unshackled from the fear and negativity.

[Jim Smith 2,339]

34 minutes ago, Petriix said:

Part of the issue we've faced so far this season is simply not having enough of this type of player on the pitch at any point. One or two are far easier to mark out of the game. As soon as you have a dynamic attacking trio in behind Pukki, they become so much more dangerous collectively.

I can't wait to see this team unshackled from the fear and negativity.

Agree with this. Three from the Tzolis, Rashica, Gilmour, Cantwell and Dowell group should always be on the pitch. Get some support up around Pukki and some players who can thread a pass. I really expect Smith to make some changes and he won’t need to sign new players to do it.

[Tumbleweed 106]

There's also Placheta, another who seems to have disappeared without trace, and Hernandez out on loan. I think we do have enough flair, it just didn't get used effectively with all the tippy tappy between defenders and then route 1 stuff.